Archive

COVID-19 has unleashed a significant boom in demand for apparel and other wearables that are anti-viral, cleansing consumers’ bodies of viruses, as well as bacteria.

Companies making fibres and yarns have been quick to tout anti-viral technologies. Examples include HeiQ Materials AG – a Switzerland based textile innovation specialist, which has been selling a new anti-virus textile treatment HeiQ Viroblock NPJ03, added to textile products during final processing and utilising anti-microbial silver, whose charge attracts viruses to spherical liposomes which deplete the virus membrane of cholesterol, allowing the silver to kill them.…

The Malawi government has ordered the ruling council of the University of Malawi (UNIMA) to push ahead with delinking its constituent colleges, despite the project being suspended on January 20.

The council voted on that day to suspend the creation of independent universities from its colleges, claiming that a 2017 decision authorising the process was not in line with Malawi law at the time and hence ‘ultra vires’.…

Environmental regulation is becoming increasingly tight for textile companies and this of special concern for the higher-tech side of the industry where new fibres, chemicals and processes are delivering a cutting edge. This is especially the case for innovative segments such as performance and outdoor materials.…

A University of Malawi (UNIMA) Council’s decision to suspend a planned delinking of the university’s constituent colleges into independent universities has generated fears that the plan – hatched over six years ago – will ultimately be frustrated. After a consultative process President Lazarus Chakwera, last November, last year had given assent to a final bill on the delinking of UNIMA.…

INTRODUCTION

NEW technology can deliver effective maintenance strategies to clothing and textile manufacturers, helping them go beyond reactive and proactive maintenance, moving into the more sophisticated world of prediction. The goal is to deliver an optimum maintenance strategy that enables manufacturers to get the most value out of their plant and equipment by spending the least amount of time, resources and money to deliver effective performance.…

UK universities are turning a blind eye to Nigerian political elites laundering dirty money through their fees, according to a paper published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace from West Africa expert and non-resident scholar, Matthew Page. Commissioned by the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, ‘West African Elites’ Spending on UK Schools and Universities: A Closer Look’ (1), flags up the “unexplained wealth” used by Nigerian politicians and public officials to pay British university and boarding school fees.…

The Lahore-based Sapphire Group has been blazing a good practice example to Pakistan’s fabric manufacturing sector by focusing on innovation when many local competitors have failed to update their production practice and technology.

With an annual turnover of USD800 million and an asset base exceeding USD500 million, the Sapphire Group has been optimising its productivity though careful attention process timing targets.…

A left-wing student union has been at the forefront of political protests currently wracking democratic Tunisia, actions that have led to its activists being arrested and held in jail.

Warda Atiq, the secretary general of UGET, (L’Union générale des étudiants de Tunisie), told UWN that 50 members of UGET have been arrested and 32 remain in pre-trial detention.…

SERIOUS steps are being taken to forge international non-financial reporting standards, with the IFRS Foundation mulling a new board agreeing global guidance. But in parallel, the European Commission is planning a comprehensive non-financial reporting directive forcing larger European Union (EU) companies to report on their environmental and social impact and governance issues, including ethics, innovation and supplier/customer relations.…

Vietnam’s textile-garment sector has been known for low labour productivity relative to China, but this has been changing as foreign-invested factories across the country bring in innovative processes and equipment. A key goal is taking advantage of Vietnam’s privileged access to major markets, especially the European Union (EU), with whom it has a free trade agreement.…